Overheard

ME: What do you want for breakfast?
VINCENT: No.
ME: Do you want cereal or oatmeal?
VINCENT: No.
ME: You have to eat something for breakfast.
VINCENT: No. I wanna pickle.
ME: Fine here is a pickle.
VINCENT: No. I no wanna pickle. No no no.
ME: (In a singsong-I'm-gonna-lose-it voice) Eat your pickle.
VINCENT: No no no. I wan 'eatmeal' no no no. No pickle.

Disney Dates

Every Friday for the last three weeks we've managed to make a family date to Disneyland! It is so much fun to look forward to each week and especially to get to go with Daddy!
P.S. Vincent calls Dumbo "Rainbow", why is that?

A Good Day

Yesterday I was feeling rather brave, or desperate, and decided to take all three kids to Disneyland - BY MYSELF! We survived and ended up staying for about 6 hours but I'm not sure I'd do it again. We renewed our annual passes and can't wait to go again next week with Grandma and Grandpa! Some highlights of the day were meeting Mary Poppins - Hadley was delighted.

We got the best seats ever for the parade and didn't wait more than 20 minutes. We were so close that the characters came up and got very personal. The fairies came up to Hadley a ton of times and all three came and peeked at Lauren in her stroller. All the princesses blew kisses. We were so close. I think Hadley was re-converted back to her princess stage after seeing them all again. Earlier in the day she made a wish at Snow White's wishing well that she could be a princess and definitely felt like one during the parade. It was magical in only the way Disney can do it.
And the best part of all, this was my speedometer at the end of the day! That's right - this is round trip from our house to Disneyland, including parking! It felt like the tram ride to the parking lot was longer than our trip home. And even better was at night laying in bed (with all kids sound asleep) hearing the fireworks show at Disneyland and knowing we were there that same day. Very cool. I love it here in Tustin!

First Haircut

Hadley got her very 1st haircut! I wanted to do it on her fourth birthday but missed it so it is a few days later. I still need it done professionally but I was so tired of the knots I just hoped this would help a little (it didn't).

Happy Birthday Mom

Happy Birthday Mom! Thanks for teaching me how to knit/crochet. Really, much more than that. Thank you for being such a great grandma to my kids. Can't come anywhere near summing it all up in a few sentences so this picture will have to suffice - ha ha.
(I have another picture to add but need to get your permission to use it first so we'll be in touch)

We're Moving!

We're moving! Chris and I have been trying for a long time to shorten his commute. We are going to rent a house in Tustin while we rent ours in Riverside. Ahhh, Riverside. No words can express. Well, there are some things I will miss very much and others, not so much - ahem, train whistle.

THINGS I AM GOING TO MISS MOST ABOUT OUR HOME:

1. ALL of the memories with my kids. I brought home 2 of my three babies to this house.  We moved in when Hadley was only 2 months old.

2. The shady maple tree that shaded our driveway and gave us leaves in the fall.

3. The big windows in the living room so I could watch my kids play out back from inside.

4. The pomegranate tree! Seeding pomegranates with friends and making jelly or eating a big bowl for breakfast.

5. The infamous windmill that is cemented down and is fairly common in Riverside backyards (I know of at least two others) so I always knew the direction of the wind. (see below)

6. The original oven that works like a champ.

7. Our nice neighbors, especially Jeanne, who Vincent has a certain fondness for - and her cat and turtle.

8. How perfectly my favorite two pieces of furniture fit into the house that I bought with one of my best friends, Kristi (well, actually she bought the bookshelves for me at an auction, but I paid for them:))

9. The kicking surround sound system that we used maybe once and couldn't figure out how to turn off by not just pulling all the plugs and throwing out some of the speakers. (Chris and I are not very tech savvy but apparently this was a major selling point to guy we bought the house from - I think he felt it wouldn't get used so he threw in a dvd player with the house b/c we didn't have one - we're talking 2004 here, who did have one?)

10 . Our $40 washer and dryer - seriously, 20 bucks each and work great except for dryer door that had little mishap with the garage door. (We're leaving them here for our renters b/c Chris apparently thought I wouldn't need them because we're getting a maid or that is what he is asking for for his birthday?)

THINGS I WILL NOT MISS:

1. TRAIN horns in the night! (Did I mention our new house has jets flying over it? C'mon, can't a girl catch a break?)

2. Give me a break - since when does it matter which direction the wind is coming from?!? I've hated that windmill since we bought the house (paint helped a little.)

3. The peach tree. Smelly, rotten, bug infested peaches all over the ground. They only came one of the four years we lived here (the only year I watered it.)

4. Trains.

5. Thirty-five year old trick-or-treaters carrying Stater Bros. grocery bags.

6. Toothpaste (and gel) colored tile in the bathroom. Is there any style of decor that goes with that?

Hadley's Book-Exchange Birthday Party

We threw an early 4th birthday party for Hadley since we'll be moving this weekend (last minute plans called for a change of date.) It was a lot of fun. It was a book-exchange party where every guest brought a new or used book and we exchanged them so everyone got to open a present and go home with something (not to mention, I didn't have a bunch of new toys/clutter to pack or clean-up).

We played with water balloons, egg on a spoon races, made layered-sand necklaces, and of course, had cake. Thanks A. Molly for coming to help, providing decorations, decorating the cake and reading stories for the kids (pretty much everything a good mom should do).